If You Teach or Write 5-Paragraph Essays--Stop It!
by Ray Salazar, May 10, 2012 (Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/white-rhino)
Note: This essay has been edited for clarification
Part I: Introduction--What inspired my argumentative response?
For decades, too many high-school teachers have been instilling persuasive writing
skills by teaching students the five-paragraph essay. You know it:
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Introduction with three reasons
Reason #1
Reason #2
Reason #3
A summary of all three reasons
It's bad writing. It's always been bad writing. With the Common Core Standards
designed to shift the way we teach students to think, read, and write, this outdated
writing tradition must end. The five-paragraph essay is rudimentary, unengaging, and
useless.
If I were using five paragraphs to convince you, based on the argument above, you
wouldn't need to read any farther. Instead, we should use the original argumentative
form Aristotle promoted but that somehow got watered down into the ordinary structure
we, unfortunately, were likely taught. Aristotle became one of the godfathers of rhetoric
by creating structures for persuasive writing and speaking that--if taught to young
people today--would transform writing instruction and facilitate the implementation of the
Common Core, proving that students--when guided appropriately--can succeed with
critical thinking in the 21st century.
Part 2: Background--What preceded my argument and / or what needs to be
clarified?
If high-school students and teachers are to succeed with Common Core Standards, the
five-paragraph essay cannot be part of instruction. Too many times, this ordinary format
is the default mode for expressing thinking in English, in history, in science, in P.E., and
even in math. The problem is this format doesn't encourage thoughtful persuasion. It
promotes low-level summary that nobody really cares about.
Aristotle rightfully promoted five parts to effective writing and speaking. Eventually,
because of low expectations, because of poor literacy training, because of convenience
or some combination, these five parts became five paragraphs. And writing became
boring and predictable.
Part 3: Confirmation--What supports my argument?
The thesis or argument in the traditional five-paragraph essay doesn't lend itself to
debatability or originality. It's a trap that students can never escape. A few years ago, I
got the chance to be an AP English reader for the College Board. Over and over, if a
student used the rudimentary three-part "argument," there was no way he or she could
demonstrate success in the analysis essay--even though we were all supportive
readers. Students were trapped into only writing about three aspects of the text instead
of starting at the top, ending at the bottom, and going through the text with a critical eye
that revealed an insight to the reader.
In competitions such as history fairs, students cannot compete with the rudimentary
three-part argument. When I started a Writing Center at a selective-enrollment high
school a couple of jobs ago, the history teacher came to me and said she needed
something to help students succeed. Over and over, she was getting arguments with
blank, blank, and blank.
Together we came up with this structure for arguments, which has served me and
students well: specific topic + debatable view + significance to the audience
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Example A: The longer school day in Chicago next year does not guarantee that
students will be productive in classes, reminding us that young people need to
find learning meaningful.
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Example B: The longer school day in Chicago next year does guarantee more
learning opportunities, resulting in increased student success.
If students want to get really fancy, they can use a subordinate phrase at the beginning
to de-emphasize common beliefs:
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Example C: Despite its widespread use, the traditional five-paragraph essay
does not allow students to express ideas engagingly, proving that this structure
limits students' writing development.
Another damaging aspect of using five paragraphs is that students find it almost
impossible to do anything but write in expository paragraphs. If we use Aristotle's
original form instead, students are able to incorporate compare/contrast, cause/effect,
definition, or analysis paragraphs as appropriate.
Aristotle's form, however, is not a one-size-fits-all approach. This form doesn't work for
science lab reports. For that, we should follow the example of the science tradition. Lab
reports are not argumentative.
This form should also not be the form for a narrative essay. For that, we should follow
the example of NPR This I Believe essays. While personal essays do carry a subtextual
argument, they are not intended to persuade. They are written so we can experience
what we have not or find solidarity through what we have.
Aristotle's form works only for persuasive essays--which need to be part of our
educational system more often. We just need to make sure that we are presenting
students with persuasive prompts that have more than one reasonable response.
Part 4: Refutation--What challenges my argument?
I know. I know. I'm hearing, "But how are students going to learn organization without
learning the five-paragraph essay?" My response: they're not learning an organizational
pattern that will help them succeed outside of your own classroom. Effective cover
letters aren't written in five-paragraph essays. We don't expect a news article to follow
a five-paragraph format. Quite simply, there aren't always three reasons to prove our
point.
Students need to write for a specific rhetorical context. The College Board promotes the
SOAP format to help students understand guidelines and expectations:
Subject:
Who or what are you writing about?
Occasion: What idea or incident is inspiring this need for persuasion? How much
time to you have to write this?
Audience: Who will read this? What do they believe about the subject? Are they a
supportive or skeptical audience?
Purpose: What is the job of this essay? What specifically do you want the
audience to realize?
Students and teachers can use this to deconstruct prompts. Finally, the SOAP format,
when combined with Aristotle's form, can help students write one or ten page essays
effectively. The five paragraph essay limits students into about 1 ½ pages.
Part 5: Conclusion--What are the benefits of accepting my argument?
Aristotle called the last part of the persuasive event the epilogue. Unlike the fiveparagraph essay that begins with "As you can see . . ." and leaves the reader thinking,
“Why are you telling me what you told me a couple minutes ago? I’m not stupid,”
Aristotle, in The Rhetoric, tells us a good writer should do this in the conclusion: “Make
the audience well-disposed towards ourselves and ill-disposed to our opponent."
One way to achieve this is to explain the benefits if the audience accepts our view. It's a
good opportunity for students to make inferences or predictions. If teachers and
students move away from the rudimentary, unengaging, and useless five-paragraph
format, students will be able to think for themselves and understand that writing can
really challenge people's views. Students will create persuasive essays that incorporate
information in un-identical ways to everyone else. Furthermore, rhetorical limits won't be
obstacles; they'll become guidelines for success. Finally, students will learn that their
persuasive abilities, when used responsibly, will have value outside of the 46 minutes
they were given to write.